Apex Legends Season 19 Patch Notes Include Welcome Respawning Changes, Catalyst Nerf

30.10.2023 - 19:54 / gamespot.com / Claire Lewis

The upcoming season's patch notes contain some of the biggest meta changes the game has seen in years.

By Claire Lewis on

Apex Legends Season 19: Ignite is nearly here, kicking off on October 31, and after steadily drip-feeding players info about the new season over the last few weeks, Respawn has finally revealed all of the features Apex's playerbase can look forward to this season via the release of Season 19's patch notes.

Season 19 is one of Apex Legends' biggest seasons yet in terms of new content (including the addition of cross-progression and some truly massive map changes), and the patch notes make this clear. From info on new legend Conduit and her abilities to nitty-gritty details regarding legend nerfs and buffs, weapon changes, and other gameplay tweaks, there's quite a lot to cover.

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One of the biggest changes hitting the game this season is a huge change to the way respawning works. Once Season 19 goes live players will respawn with the shields and the weapons they had prior to being eliminated. Both body shield and helmet tier will be preserved, knockdown shields will be reset to Level 1, and the player's backpack will be removed. The player's inventory will contain both their weapons and some ammo required for those weapons, along with two syringes and two shield cells. Care package weapons will not be preserved, and though standard weapons will still be in the player's inventory, all weapon attachments will be removed.

This is a massive change to the way respawning has worked in the past, and will inevitably have major effects on the way the game is played going forward, especially in competitive scenarios.

Respawn has expressed a desire to address the «can't see sh*t meta» in Season 19, and that means nerfs to several popular legends.

Catalyst is receiving some pretty major nerfs, with her Piercing Spikes tactical taking the brunt of the downgrades. Piercing Spikes' projectile distance has been reduced by about 50% and players won't be able to place as many of them on the map as they could in the past--as of Season 19, only two sets of Piercing Spikes can exist on the map at once, down from the original three. Piercing Spikes will also no longer block projectiles, so players who encounter them can feel free to fire at will.

Her scan-proof Dark Veil ultimate ability is also getting nerfed, with its duration being decreased from 30 seconds to 25. Additionally, the cooldown timer for the ability will no longer start when Dark Veil is